The Message

by Ta-Nehisi Coates

When Israel constructs settlements in the West Bank, it extends its borders past the settlements—sometimes onto Palestinian farmland. Palestinian access to this land is almost always contested, and generally granted based on a maze of permits or the mood of the security forces who guard the settlements. In any clash between Palestinians and settlers, the soldiers can be expected to take the side of the settlers. And the settlers are, themselves, often armed perpetrators of violence. “The settlements play a political and a strategic role in taking over land,” Avner explained. “Imagine a pond. You throw a rock in a pond and it creates a ripple, right? The settlements create a ripple effect of violence everywhere they are. That’s the way they’re built.”